1448
£25m for London's third
A CORPORATE plan for 1979 pub
lished by the British Airports Authority
forecasts expenditure of £340 million
on expansion of the authority's seven
airports in the five years to 1983-84
plus a further £25 million on initial
development of the third London air
port.
The total includes £93-5 million for
the proposed terminal Four at Heath
row and £45 million for terminal Two
at Gatwick. Terminal Four is awaiting
the result of a public inquiry, while
terminal Two is to be the subject of a
similar inquiry.
The plan envisages an average
annual growth at Heathrow, Gatwick
and Stansted of 7 • 1 per cent to give a
total of 82 million passengers by 1990,
compared with 32-1 million this year.
"Even with the expansion in capacity
provided by terminal Four at Heath
row and terminal Two at Gatwick, the
forecasts show a shortfall between
capacity and demand in 1987. Con
siderable extra capacity will be
required before 1990, and in subse
quent years."
Ways of easing the traffic jam at
Heathrow are already being intro
duced. Summer flight plans submitted
by the airlines will result in capacity
at terminal Three being exceeded by
300 passengers an hour in peak
periods. To avoid congestion some
long-haul flights will be transferred
to other terminals.
Michael Maine, BAA deputy director
(terminals) at Heathrow, says the
authority may have to take airlines to
court if they decline to shift some of
their flights, either into the quieter
hours or into other terminals.
• The Heathrow airlines' scheduling
committee, representing 70 operators,
has produced flight plans which,
according to Michael Maine, will
mean a "big squeeze" summer at the
airport.
• A multi-million pound programme
for the replacement of National Air
Traffic services radars is scheduled for
completion within the next five years.
At Heathrow it is planned to replace
the present 50cm and 10cm primary
radars and the secondary radars by
new combined radars mounted on
towers.
Airliner market
Air Afrique has ordered one Airbus
A300B4 for delivery in 1981 and two
A310s, for delivery in 1983. The A300
will be used on Air Afrique's Dakar-
Paris service and the A310s are
destined for the airline's African
coastal routes. A choice of engine
supplier has not yet been announced,
but is likely to be Pratt & Whitney,
following Air Afrique's selection of
the P&W JT9D-7Q for the 747
freighter which it has ordered from
Boeing • Cathay Pacific has con
verted an option on a Rolls-Royce
RB.211-powered Boeing 747-200B into
a firm order. Cathay now has three
such aircraft on order and options on
three. Olympic Airways has ordered
two Boeing 737s for delivery in the
summer of 1980. Angola Airlines has
ordered one 737 for immediate
delivery Q SAHSA, of Honduras, has
ordered one De Havilland Canada
Dash 7 • Air New Zealand has
ordered two Fokker F.27 Mk.500s for
delivery next spring • Austrian Air
lines has converted one option on a
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Super 80 into
a firm order, for 1982 delivery.
Austrian now has nine Super 80s on
order and options on three more.
First flight of Pratt & Whitney A300
THE first A300 powered by Pratt &
Whitney JT9D-59A engines of 53,0001b
thrust each made its maiden flight on
April 28. The flight lasted 3hr 50min.
The whole operational flight envelope
was covered from stall-warning to
maximum speed and Mach number,
up to 35,000ft, "without any prob
lems." An automatic approach fol
lowed by an automatic go-around was
performed "perfectly" at the end of
this first flight.
"The performance of the aircraft
and the operation of this new JT9D
engine was found be fully satisfac
tory," says Capt Pierre Baud of Air
bus Industrie flight division. The certi
fication flight-test programme calls
for 150 flight hours and is scheduled
to be completed by August this year.
The P&W A300 which has just
made its maiden flight will be de
livered to Scandinavian Airlines Sys
tem, the first A300 customer to select
the JD9D-59A engine, in November of
this year. SAS has three more A300B2-
300s on order, and options on another
eight aircraft.
Airbus Industrie now has 25 cus
tomers and orders for 283 aircraft (190
firm and 93 options) of which 191 are
A300s (143 firm and 48 options) and
92 are A310s (47 firm and 45 options).
Iberia, Garuda and Swissair have also
specified the P&W JT9D engine for
their A300s and A310s.
• As this issue goes to press it is
reported that Varig/Cruzeiro of Brazil
has been given approval to buy four
A300s for delivery between June 1980
and June 1982, together with six DC-
10-30s for delivery from July 1980
to July 1981.
• It is reported also as this page
closes that Air Afrique has selected
JT9Ds for its A310s recently ordered.
FLIGHT International, S May 1979
Suicide blamed for
Chinese Trident
crash?
THE crash of a CAAC Trident on the
outskirts of Peking on March 14 (see
Flight, March 24, p 880) was caused
by the suicide of a 25-year-old
mechanic who flew the aircraft into a
factory 20km from the end of the run
way according to Japanese sources.
The report says that investigators
found the will of the mechanic which
stated that he intended to crash the
aircraft into air force headquarters in
Peking. According to an official
Chinese statement at the time, 44
people were killed or injured in the
incident.
New era in airport
relations at
Manchester
A new productivity agreement be
tween management and unions begins
a new era in industrial relations at
Manchester International Airport,
according to the airport authorities.
The agreement provides for a sub
stantial increase in the take-home pay
of every manual worker at the airport
and resolves a number of previously
contentious issues that have bedevilled
relations between the two sides. This,
the airport says, should result in im
proved aircraft turnround and a
greater degree of passenger satisfac
tion.
Short hauls . . .
British Caledonian has reached an
agreement with flight engineers on
pay, so averting the threat of strike
action . • - Newcastle Airport handled
899,000 passengers in the 12 months
ended March this year, an 18 per cent
increase on the previous 12 months
. . . Dan-Air reports a contract with
Hitco of Gardena, California, for a
new interior look for its BAC One-
Eleven 500 fleet, now standing at six.
Austrian Airlines made a net profit of
$4-48 million last year, with traffic up
nine per cent to 1-24 million and a
growth of 13-8 per cent in operating
revenue . . . Air Canada has launched
a guaranteed transit time sea-air cargo
service between Japan and Europe . . .
Air Anglia has received an extended
concession from Norway for sched
uled services between Britain and
west Norway . . . British Midland Air
ways has received the Queen's award
for industry for export achievement,
particularly its "instant airline" leas
ing service . . . the Civil Aeronautics
Board has granted Braniff new routes
to Bangkok, Guam, Hong Kong,
Manila, Singapore, Seoul and Taipei
. . . Spantax will fly a second daily
service with CV990s for Iberia this
summer, linking Palma, Alicante,
Seville, Las Palmas and Tenerife.